Bits and Pieces
by Untraveled
Summary: A series of Short Stories and One-shots. A break from my other Series's and projects. A compilation of whatever fleeting fragments of inspiration I manage to snatch and translate onto paper. Mostly AU's. Some are sad, some are violent, others will be happy, and the majority are WildeHopps, so sue me!
1. Chapter 1

[A/N:

Short stories have always been my strong suit, while longer pieces have always been a challenge for me. I have a bad habit of bouncing rapidly between subjects and ZCOM is proving to be a serious exercise in focus, but even I need a break at times.

This short story, 'Don't You Know the Devil Wears a Suit and Tie?' is the first in 'Bits and Pieces'. A series of sorta connected ideas and random fragments of inspiration.

If like what you see, and you find you want more if it, or if you want to make a suggestion for another story (one-shot or series) don't be afraid to comment.

It's fun to write but its terribly demoralizing to be the only one to do it by yourself.

-Untraveled

I DO NOT own any rights to the songs referenced in this short story, nor do I own any rights to Zootopia itself.

Songs:

"The Devil Wears a Suit and Tie" By Colter Wall

"Save My Soul" By Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

Inspired By: the song "The Devil Wears a Suit and Tie" By Colter Wall

"Why, didn't you know? The Devil wears a suit and tie."

The haggard old hare dressed in a ratty patchwork three piece guffawed.

His sloppy grin looked as about as well put together as his clothing, gaping holes and a couple rotting teeth rolling about his skull seemed about the only thing left in his head.

Judy Hopps, newly minted ZPD officer and first rabbit on the force, struggled to keep her professional smile from wavering and her eyes from rolling.

She still did, but she made sure to feint a slow blink while her amethyst eyes explored the inside of her eyelids.

When she opened her eyes again, still with her best professional grin plastered on her muzzle like a mask, her gaze trailed down to the beat up soap board six-string in the hare's lap.

The crazy old hare noticed where she was looking, and his rotting grin widened, and his ragged ears perked.

"Hey darlin'. You want to hear a song?"

Judy's eyes shot up from the ancient instrument to the hare's crazed bloodshot gaze.

"wha-? No thank sir, that won't-" she waved her paws out in panic, her carrot pen and notepad flapping.

"- be a problem?" A strange light glittered in the hare's mad eyes. "Alright, you convinced me!"

"Wait! Wait! No, sir, you don't-!"

"Heeere we go!"

"Wha-? Huh? Uuuugh…" Judy groaned as the old hare's back straightened and his paws slid over the battered instrument.

The first note that trembled from the worn old guitar pulled at something deep in the disgruntled rabbit doe's chest, shutting down her vexed irritation.

Suddenly the crazy old hare's grating backwater twang became a smooth, smokey warble that sent chills up her spine.

" _Well Reverend, Reverend please come quick!"  
" 'Cause I got somethin' to admit."  
"I met a met a mammal out in the sticks of good ol' Miss,"  
"He drove a series 10 Cadillac and wore a cigar on his lip!"_

The old hare's finger's danced across the strings and his ears drooped across his face and swayed as he bobbed his head and pounded his palm against the worn wood to the hypnotic rhythm.

Judy stared in awe as the batty old hare sitting in front of the cardboard box he called home transformed from a homeless beggar to a powerful musician on his own stage.

She felt her heart drop as the notes dove and chest shook as the string's soared. She was mesmerized, enthralled, the notes from the old guitar touching something deep inside her, a sort of longing.

" _Don't you know the devil wears a suit and tie!"  
"Saw him driving down the 61' in early July,"  
"Red as an open wound and sharp as a knife."  
"I heard him howling as he passed me by."_

The hare's eyes lit up as he pulled the strings and coaxed every sound possible from the poor old six-string in his lap.

" _And he said,"  
"I know you, I know you young man,"  
"I know you by the state of your hands."  
"You're a six-string picker,"  
"Just as I am."  
"Let me learn you something."  
"I know a few turns to make all the girls dance!"_

Judy found herself believing the words the hare sang, as absurd as that was.

The old hare looked up and his bloodshot eyes bored into the rabbit officer's with a deathly serious intensity. Another chill rippled down her spine, though this time, for a whole different reason.

" _Oh,"  
"Foolish, foolish was I!"  
"Damn my foolish eyes."  
" 'Cause that mammal's lessons"  
"Had a price, oh sweet price."  
"My sweet soul, everlasting,"  
"A very own eternal light."_

One Hour Later

Judy's head still spun, and her heart was going a mile a minute, even after an hour after leaving the suddenly sorrowful old hare. When his song had finished he had refused to speak another word, instead he turned around and crawled into his box and clutching his guitar like it was the only thing left in his dark, lonely world.

What was that song? She wondered. What did it mean?

Judy fought down a headache from the questions as she weaved through Happytown's decrepit streets, her eyes on her notepad and the lone piece of useful information she managed to get out of the hare.

A single name, a bar called Whiskey Crossroads.

The bunny called a Zuber and hightailed it to the closed landmark she could find, a ramshackle tin shed masquerading as a bus stop in the middle of an empty road.

The Whiskey Crossroads wasn't on Zoogle Maps, and the driver had never heard of the bar.

Whiskey Crossroads turned out to be a grimy hole in the wall on the outskirts of Zootopia in a small brick building that bordered the marshlands. The bar was the sole building for miles next to a lonely road that trailed off into the mists that clung to the wetlands like a shroud.

Tense pricks of angsty anticipation needled the skin underneath Judy's moist fur making her itchy.

The rabbit officer shook herself of her own silliness and radioed in her location to dispatch on the hand mic sling over her shoulder.

Her only response was static.

"What the huckleberry?" she mused crossly. She keyed the mic again, but she still got nothing.

"Fluttery parsnips, these radios will be the death of me." She grumbled and gave up, opting instead to pop her iCarrot from her belt.

"I guess I'll just text Clawhauser my location…" She clicked the power button and the screen came to life-

-where it flashed 1% battery and promptly died.

"Gaaaah! Dang it!" Judy's fist shook as she tightened her grip on her phone and seriously contemplated chucking the entire thing in the marsh.

"Everythin' alright here sweetheart?"

A smooth, husky whisper from behind had Judy whirling around and nearly planting her face into the crisp black suit jacket of the mammal standing there.

"Oh, cheese and crackers!" The bunny launched herself back on her toes and bent her head as she stammered out an apology. "I-I'm terribly sorry sir. I didn't see you there."

A chest rumbling chuckle rose from the stranger in front of her.

"It's no problem sweetheart, though I do try to keep my reputation cute females coming onto me down to a minimum. However I realize it's inevitable I'm afraid."

Judy frowned. She could practically _taste_ the unfiltered smug self-conceit in the stranger's voice, as oddly tantalizing as that voice was. She decided she didn't like it, or the mammal it was attached to.

That and he called her _cute_.

She rose her gaze from her feet to the stranger with her chest puffed out and her best cop voice springing from her tongue.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to refrain from… calling… me…"

 _Red as an open wound and sharp as a knife._

Sharp was _one_ word to describe the nearly blood red fox grinning toothily down at her.

His flawless white shirt melded with his white chest fur. His jet black suit stood darker than the darkest night. The creature before her looked more like a smug demon wrapped in void than a red fox in suit leaning up against his parked Cadillac.

" _Wait, where did that car come from?"_ Judy thought. She took several unconscious steps back. _"How come I never heard him park it right behind me?!"_

The mystery fox-wrapped-in-void levered himself from the door of his white paneled 1935 series 10 Cadillac. The grinning vulpine approached the rabbit officer, his stride easy and his bushy red tail swaying confidently behind him.

She fully expected the fox to stop in front of her and cause a scene. Her paw unclasped the Fox-Away on her belt, her fingers hovering over the little pink can as she waited for the vulpine to strike.

Only she blinked in confusion and turned around at the squeak of the front door opening, the fox leaning against the frame with his paw propping the door for her.

"After you Officer Hopps."

Judy's little pink nose twitched as she craned her head up to stare into the green hellfire that roared in the fox's glowing emerald eyes.

She forced her own lavender eyes closed and marched through the door with the chuckling vulpine's voice echoing hauntingly behind her.

It wasn't until she was submerged in darkness and she felt the fox vanish into the shadowy bar interior when the bunny realized the fox somehow knew her name.

"Dang it." She blinked and spun her head around in a futile effort to speed up her eyes adjusting to the dark. "Well, he couldn't have gotten far. He's still in here…" The clatter of silverware against china and the rumble of whispered conversations hissed from the shadows leaned across the bars scattered tables and booths. Her heartbeat picked up again as an ugly shade of anxiety settled in her gut. "…somewhere."

The first thing that hit her, besides the dark, was the smell. The air here was heavy with cigarette smoke and liquid regret. The atmosphere was difficult for Judy to describe, she was never much one for bar-hopping.

Nostalgia was a tangible, physical thing here. She felt it as her paws crossed over the rickety floorboards. Sorrow was a tickling burn in the back of her tongue, it flowed through the swirling smoke like perfume. It was a cauldron of volatile emotions bathed in the calming stream of lost souls and good company.

Well, good company besides that dang fox…

She never got the chance to brood over the strange fox in the sharp suit with the old Cadillac, not when the first crooning notes from the gazelle on the grimy stage at the back of the bar drew the rabbit from her worries.

" _I walk the streets of New Orleans,"  
With a boy of my dreams."_

" _I've seen a dozen brass bands play and swing,"  
While little children laugh, dance & sing."_

" _I've seen old men - drunk - singin' the blues,"  
"With top hats and canes and spectator shoes."_

" _I consider myself lucky to have fallen in love,"  
"With a boy, the city, and the river of mud."_

" _Let me know,"  
"Let me know,"_

" _Where I can go to save my soul."_

A tiger in a wrinkled blue suit rocked to the beat as he pulled the swinging rhythm from the battered and scratched piano just off between the stage and the bar. The gazelle's form hugging cocktail dress glittered a red nearly identical to the fur of a certain red fox.

The same red fox leaning against the counter with a shot of whiskey and an intense look of concentration trained on the gazelle singing into the microphone. It was a look the singer returned. Both entranced with each other.

" _Or, perhaps, she is entranced with him…?"_ Judy wondered.

"Come to join me Sweetheart?"

The fox's husky purr jolted the suddenly timid little bunny from her thoughts. Somehow, while her thoughts revolved around the mysterious vulpine her body had taken her to him, drawn to him, despite her own dislike for the irritating fox.

Her ears drooped in embarrassment at herself.

"What's wrong Sweetheart?" The fox leaned over towards her and rumbled, his unlit cigar twirling between his fingers as mirth stroked the flames in his glowing emerald eyes. "Fox got your tongue?"

A spark of anger flared in the doe's chest, mostly anger at making a fool of herself over this stranger.

Why was she so hung up over this worthless fox? She has a job to do!

Her pride however wouldn't allow her just to walk away without setting this smug twit in his place.

"You don't _got_ any part of me, _Fox._ " She snapped.

This only seemed to amuse the vulpine further. A chest rumbling purr of laughter shook deep in the bunny's core.

The fox leaned a hairsbreadth from her nose, his breath a furnace against her cheek, the heat sending jitters skittering down her arms and ending in the tip of her twitching tail.

"I seem to have _gotten_ your attention Sweetheart." He purred in her drooping ears like a forbidden lover. That thought sent her heart sinking into the pit of her twisting stomach in disgust. "I think that's as much of you as I would want."

A husky chuckle rippled from his throat as he added. "For now…"

Judy actually swore her heart thudded to a stand still she was so… Angry? Revolted? Excited? Confused? She didn't even know. What she did know was that one second he was there- then he wasn't.

The rabbit doe fought to get her madly twitching nose to still as she scanned the dimly lit bar and noticed the softly singing gazelle in the glittering red evening dress had ended her song.

The gazelle stepped off the stage and sat at a high table with the tiger pianist and began to speak with the red fox in the sharp black suit, who had somehow managed to reappear halfway across the room in a blink of an eye.

The singer seemed to have been listening to the vulpine intently, both her had the tiger hanging off whatever words slipped form his silky smooth tongue.

Gathering her courage- and the tattered remnants of her scattered wits- and stomped over to the table to confront the fox.

Somehow he knew she was approaching, his ears never flicked from the gazelle and his nose never gave any indication that he smelled her, yet somehow he still knew.

"…As always." His voice faded in above the clatter of the bar-dwellers as he spoke to the ecstatic singer.

"Maybe we can make another deal?" She asked breathlessly.

The fox grinned, his razor sharp teeth on full display.

"You remember the price?" He cautioned around his hungry smile. "A deal must be paid in with something of equal value."

He leaned in over the table as his tail flicked Judy's ears as she impatiently thumped her foot behind him.

"How much are you willing the give?" He purred.

The gazelle's brown eyes glittered in the bar's smokey din as she answered. "Anything…"

"Anything?" The fox's grin stretched. "Even your soul, if I asked it?"

Confusion and hesitation clouded the gazelle's excitement. She opened her mouth to answer but the fox's claw pressed against her lips halted her.

"Think on what you are trying to give up." He warned, even though his smile never faltered. "Take a few days. When you are ready to make a deal- a different deal is always, _Always_ , on the table- then come back here, and we will talk."

The gazelle closed her mouth and nodded, her excitement doused by serious contemplation and her confusion calmed by the fox's gentle council.

Both her and the tiger glided away after a warm goodbye, leaving the fox alone with the rabbit cop, who had taken the liberty of commandeering one of the stools.

"Can't seem to leave me be, can you Sweetheart?" The fox husked.

The rabbit wanted to gag. Instead she clicked her carrot pen and leveled a glare over her notepad.

"Officer Judy Hopps, ZPD. Precinct 1." The rabbit introduced herself in her stern cop voice as her badge glittered proudly on her ballistic vest. She felt a warm sense of satisfaction that all those nights spent mock-interrogating her mirror was finally paying off. "I'd like to ask you some questions about suspicious happenings taking place in Happytown recently."

She flicked to a fresh page and struggled to look back into the fox's glowing emerald eyes shining with mirth back at her from the darkness.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"Whatever you want to call me Sweetheart." The fox cooed. Judy suppressed the urge to stick that cigar he was twirling around his fingers up his nostril. She ground her teeth and tried not to crush her pen in her shaking fist. Deep breaths Judes, deep breaths…

"Have you noticed any… unusual activity in the area recently?" She asked. "Perhaps mammals that seem out of place or are out at unusual times of the night?"

"Yes." Judy's ears perked in surprise.

"Really?" She exclaimed. "Who? Where? What did they look like? What were they doing?"

The grin that split the fox's lips unsettled whatever hope she had in getting a normal answer from the infuriating vulpine.

"Well, not five minutes ago I saw a cute darlin' wrapped in a tantalizingly tight blue body glove and dressed to impress in tactical gear boastin' a shiny new badge-" The fox leaned in and Judy leaned away, hiding her face behind her notepad. "-and a pink bottle of _Fox-Away_."

The fox savored the look of mortified regret that sank over the doe's poorly disguised distain.

"She was walkin' all by her lonesome down a five mile stretch of road. Definitely suspicious." The fox leaned back in his seat and nodded dramatically to himself. "Suspicious indeed. Wouldn't you agree Officer Hopps?"

"…"

The fox grinned and set his unlit cigar on his lip and took a drag, his chest expanded and when he exhaled a cloud of purple-white smoke swirled lazily from his nostrils. He sighed contently and set his cigar in his fingers and lay them on the table.

"What are you really here for _Judith Laverne Hopps_?" He asked around his toothy, predatorial grin.

Terror, for reasons she could easily name but completely fail to explain, gripped her heart as her full name spilled off the todd's silky smooth tongue like an irresistible temptation.

The bunny doe swallowed thickly and tried to keep her lips from trembling too much.

Before she could cobble together a coherent answer the fox once again beat her to it.

"Tell you what Sweetheart." The vulpine tugged the crisp lapel on his suit. "Let's make a deal."

" _Had a price, oh sweet price."  
"My sweet soul, everlasting,"  
"A very own eternal light."_

"A-a deal?" She breathed in a tiny, shaking voice. The fox's grin melted into a kinder, gentler smile.

"That's right. A deal." He nodded and swirled his shot of untouched whiskey, though his glowing green eyes never left her own amethyst gaze.

"Tell me what you want- Not what you want _from me_ \- but what you desire from your investigation."

"The truth." Her answer came before her mind could formulate a different approach. The fox's grin widened in amusement once again.

"You want to know about the strange rash of impossible fortune that struck the residents of Happytown, am I right?" The fox's paw swept boldly across the bar. "You want to know why, in the past month, no less than 40 mammals from Happytown, the _slum_ of Zootopia somehow managed to win the lottery, how creatures of feeble constitution and terminal illness suddenly rise from their beds and walk among the living! _You_ want to know why, in the past month, rising stars of unparalleled talent and blinding beauty, once so rare in the most _domesticated_ of places, appear like common pennies in a place only known for its crime and its dreary hopelessness."

He rose in his seat and declared proudly, like a preacher before the congregation.

"You want to know how, even the smallest and weakest of mammal, managed, in the past month, to do the impossible! A bobcat lifting a truck! A mouse winning a barfight against an elephant!"

Suddenly his voice grew quiet and turned into a rumbling growl. "A rabbit earning the respect of her peers and superiors…"

Judy stared at the fox, completely spell-bound by his irresistible husky voice. He is right, right on all accounts, but how is he right? How does he know?

 _What's the price for my dream?_

The fox settled back into his seat and set his shot of whiskey down and pressed his unlit cigar to his lips. He exhaled, the purple-white smoke poured from his nostrils and caressed the doe's madly twitching tiny pink nose.

 _Smells like violets…_

"You want your dream." He said simply, seemingly reading her mind. "You, Judy Hopps, aren't happy. Isn't that right Sweetheart?"

"…Yes…" She murmured as her eyes filled with tears. "I-I want to be ha-ha-happy."

"No Deal."

Total despair, the likes of which Judy had never known, stabbed her heart as the fox breath those two words.

Tears darkened her cheeks and spilled onto the empty pages of her notepad.

"W-why?" She gurgled.

"You can't buy happiness. There's no price I could hope to place on it." The fox gently replied. "It's priceless."

Judy blubbered and sobbed at that bar table. She cried for all those night dreaming of her life as an officer, but these past few months she had only known loneliness and disappointment. Its become too much… its all too much.

 _Why can't I be happy?_

"Yes," The fox asked. "Why not?"

Judy's sniffed and sucked in a shuddering breath as she looked through the tears at the fox's tender expression, and the paw he had reached across the table to take her own paw in a gentle grip.

The warmth that rolled from his paw to hers was intoxicating.

"H-how?" Judy squeaked.

The fox smirked kindly. "Let's make another deal."

"W-what's-"

"The price?" The fox finished her question with a small laugh. "A song, I think."

Judy sniffed and hummed in confusion.

"A-a song?" The fox nodded eagerly. "F-from me? You w-want me to sing?"

"Yes." He flicked his head towards the empty stage behind him. "I want you to sing one song, right there on that stage."

Judy's reddened eyes widened in panic and disbelief.

"N-n-… I-I can't… I mean, I can't sing! N-not here!"

The fox chuckled, his deep rumbling purr calmed the bunny doe's nerves in a way not even she had ever felt before.

"Trust me." He whispered and gently squeezed her paw.

Judy didn't trust herself to speak around her heart lodged in the throat, but the tiny nod was all the vulpine needed.

She was whisked by a pair of strong arms and the swirling scent of violets to the tiny stage lit by a lone spotlight. Judy felt her knees shake as stage fright took hold of her chest and sending her heart pounding painfully against her ribs. She clung to the microphone stand like a lifeline, she didn't trust her legs to keep her upright.

 _Why did I get myself into?_

"Are you ready Sweetheart?"

Judy squeaked and clutched the microphone stand tighter as her body shook in fright. She risked a turn of her head towards the husky, soothing purr and she nearly melted, for a whole different reason than the stage fright.

The fox in the sharp black suit was smiling gently at her from a wooden stool he had seemed to conjure from thin air. In his paws was a worn and well-loved six-string in his lap.

Judy swallowed and took a deep breath.

"I-I… I'm scared." Her eyes lowered to her feet as she stammered in shame.

"That's okay." Judy's ears perked in surprise and she turned wide- hopeful eyes back to the fox. "It's okay to be scared. Come over here Sweet heart." He beckoned her over. "Come over here and bring that microphone."

With shaking paws Judy plucked the microphone from the stand and wobbled over to the fox with a demure expression adorning her tear-stained cheeks.

A squeak pulled from her lips as a strong vulpine arm scooped her into his lap and set her against his chest behind his guitar.

"Is this better Sweetheart?" He whispered. His muzzle rested in the space between her ears. Judy felt the fox's powerful voice rumble deep in his chest against her back and the warmth from his body enveloped her like a snuggly blanket.

"Yes." Judy whispered back.

"Good." Judy could hear the smile on the fox's face.

"What song am I singing?"

The fox thought for a moment.

"I have one." He said around another smug smile. "You heard it just today in fact. It happens to be my _favorite._ "

"What is it?" Judy asked.

"You'll know." The fox purred.

Then his fingers began to dance across the guitar and the stage melted away. All of Judy's worries, her fears, the sadness, the pain, it all faded as the fox strummed the guitar and played the bunny doe's heart and plucked her heartstrings just like the six-string in his lap.

The hypnotic music spellbound her. When the notes dove her heart sank, and when they flew she soared!

She didn't know how she knew, but when it seemed right Judy lifted the microphone to lips and began to sing.

" _Don't you know the devil wears a suit and tie!"  
"Saw him driving down the 61' in early July,"  
"Red as an open wound and sharp as a knife."  
"I heard him howling as he passed me by.-!"_

"What's your name?"

The fox in the black suit stopped with one foot in his Cadillac and one glowing emerald eye on her.

"You can call me whatever you like Sweetheart." He said finally. "But, recently the Name… Nick Wilde seems to have struck my fancy."

"Nick Wilde…" Judy rolled the name around her tongue. "I-I like it." She admitted. "It suits you."

The fox's- no- Nick's purring laugh sent Judy's heart fluttering madly in her chest.

"I'm glad." Nick laughed as he climbed into his white Cadillac.

Judy stopped him from closing the door. He cocked his head curiously as the doe stared bashfully up at him.

"W-will I see you again Nick?"

"Want to make another deal so soon?" The fox grinned.

"No!" Judy blustered loudly then blushed madly at her outburst. "well… maybe, if its anything like tonight."

"I'd like that Sweetheart." Judy's face lit up into a dazzling smile that pushed back the dark night.

"Yes! Yes!" She cheered. "Oh, that's-that's great." She flashed another smile up at the fox and found Nick mirroring her unrestrained glee.

"You know what Sweetheart?" Nick asked in his smokey smooth voice. "I think there's enough time tonight for one more deal."

"What kind of deal?" Judy asked.

Any hint of bitterness or suspicion was void, just like the slot on her belt where the can of Fox-Away once sat.

"How about I give you a ride to your place?" Nick offered.

"The price?" Judy giggled. Nick smiled his gentle, enchanting smile.

"One song I think, and your company until we arrive."

"And what about you?" Judy asked coyly. "What part of _you_ do I get?"

Nick laughed in delight.

"You get my undivided attention, unless you want another part of me Judy?"

"Your attention is enough." Judy sang as she bounced into the passenger seat of the old series 10 Cadillac.

"For now." She whispered bashfully and blushed as the fox winked in reply.

Judy recovered from the burning in her cheeks enough to look up in Nick's enthralling Emerald eyes as he look back into her own beautiful amethyst gaze.

"So Nick, do we have a deal?"

Nick smiled gently and laughed in delight.

 _Best deal he ever made._


	2. Bunny, Its Cold Outside Pt 1 (2018 Xmas)

Bunny, It's Cold Outside

It's been months since she last saw his white Cadillac roar off into the July night.

Well, Five months, one week, and four days, but who's counting?

A dollop of wet snow settled onto her reddened button nose, making her sneeze and throwing off the layer of white that had cloaked her shoulders into a powdery cloud.

The doe sniffed and let out a long, melancholy sigh and shook her numb ears free of the clinging wetness.

Her physical discomfort went hardly noticed, the cold that seeped through her fur-lined canvas jacket an afterthought left for reflection. Her mind was elsewhere entirely, abound in the rolling world of hushed quiet and gently falling snow.

The last rays of sunlight had bled and died from the sky a half an hour ago, leaving the embrace of night in shades of blue and white.

Winter's nipping wind had calmed in the sun's final hour, the sudden snowstorm that had swept through Bunnyburrow had finally settled, as if leaving behind a secret winter wonderland just for her.

Her family was huddled safe and warm in her kithood home not even a hundred feet behind her with a hearty fire crackling under the hearth and a sea of bunnies bundled tight in blankets around her grandparents as they regaled tales of year past.

Despite her unusual quirks and oddball need to live many miles away as a big city cop Judy loved being close with her family, especially around Christmas.

This would mark her first Christmas as a cop.

Since her encounter with the mysterious fox in the suit her working situation had steadily improved.

If Nick would have been around he would credit her change in attitude. Judy would suspect the wily (and potentially supernatural) vulpine had pulled one of his little tricks and just magicked her coworkers into treating her better.

Right before the holidays Chief Bogo had actually approached her after roll call and apologized!

If that wasn't a Christmas miracle Judy didn't know what was.

She made it, she achieved her dream, she got everything she ever wanted!

She should be happy, right!

Right?

"five months, one week, and four days." She whispered, her amethyst eyes sad and her paws wrapped tight around herself, much like he had hugged her to his chest that night on that grubby bar's stage.

A gray and fuzzy memory of strong, warm arms gently pulling her onto his lap pushed back the cold.

Her eyes began to water until a gust of wind brushed her cheek, making her shiver and breaking her memories from that fateful night.

The warmth she felt from his touch had been so intense and his handsome face crisp and his fiery fur brilliant in her mind.

Now… Now all she saw was blurs of gray. His emerald eyes withered and his voice, once so smooth rich, turned bland, like words on a page.

His warmth, his touch, was the last vestiges of him she clung to, like a drowning mammal to wayward flotsam.

Yet, even that warmth had now faded away leaving her cold and alone.

She was tired of waiting.

She was tired of being alone.

"Merry Christmas Nick." Judy whispered to the snow covered night. "Good bye."

She sniffed and rubbed her eyes before turning from the silent world of white to the haven of hearth and family, her heart a little lighter and her steps a little easier.

The young doe shook the clinging snow from her coat and eased the back door open. Her fur puffed as she walked through the threshold and into the warm foyer.

She could pick out the age-roughed rumble of her grandpa's strong country drawl drift from the living room, just like he had been since she stepped outside.

A small smile broke over her solemn expression as she shed her jacket and tiptoed to the living room.

She peeked around the doorway and breathed out a tiny 'aww' at the adorable sight she beheld.

Dozens of her little brothers and sisters were curled around each other on the carpet, some drifting away into their peaceful dreamlands while others were entranced with the elderly rabbit on the couch, their long ears perked and eyes wide at the story their grandfather wove.

Judy's paw went to her heart as her smile brightened.

"I see someone is feeling better?"

Judy started and turned to see her mother dressed in a flour dusted apron and an understanding smile on her face.

"Yeah mom, I think I am." Judy returned her mother's smile and on impulse leaned forward and wrapped the older doe in a hug.

"That's good honeybun." Her mother murmured against her daughter's cheek. "I don't know who broke your heart but know I'm always here for you if you need to talk."

"Wait." Judy grabbed her mother's shoulders and held her at arm's length with her brows furrowed in bewilderment. "What are you talking about? I don't have anyone-"

"Oh please." Her mother rolled her eyes and snorted. "I was young once. I know what heartbreak looks like honeybun. You're not the only doe that finds nighttime strolls help ease the hurt."

Judy stammered and floundered for a reply but all she could do was sputter and mumble incoherently as her mother watched her daughter light up red as a match with a smug grin on her muzzle.

"Oh… fine." Judy sighed and crossed her arms over her pink tanktop. "I met him while I was… working."

Bonnie's eyes widened. "You mean he was a-"

Judy's jaw dropped and her ears snapped straight.

"What! N-nonono! He's not a criminal mom. I was investigating something down at this bar and… well… after I got over myself we kinda…"

Judy's eyes roamed aimlessly for a moment as she searched for a good word to describe it. "we kinda just clicked. Ya know?"

"I think I do Bunbun." Bonnie replied.

A tiny chime caught both bunny's attention.

"Oh! The pie must be done." Bonnie half dragged her daughter down the hallway. "Come on and help me in the kitchen."

"You mean tell you about my supposed heartbreaker?" Judy poked.

"Sorry Judes, you already gave the game away. This buck ain't a 'supposed' anything! He hurt you and I intend to get the whole story!"

"What did I just get myself into?" Judy grumbled, pulling a giggle from her mother.

As Bonnie pulled the pie from the oven Judy hopped up and sat on the counter and watched her mother set the still steaming piece of blueberry flavored heaven on a cork pad.

"Okay!" Bonnie pulled her apron off and threw it on the counter next to her daughter. She trapped the younger doe with her gaze as a hungry smile curled her lips. "Now that that's done I want to hear everything."

In an uncharacteristically vulnerable moment of uncertainty Judy found she couldn't meet her mother's eyes, instead she stared at her paws clasped together in her lap.

"I…" She choked. "I… It was…" She shook her head and her ears folded against her back. "It was just me being… silly."

"What do you mean?" Bonnie asked. She walked up to her hurting daughter and gently set a reassuring paw on Judy's knee.

Judy looked at the paw on her knee, and she fought the urge to jerk away from it. The warmth reminded her of his touch and it made her a little sick after what she said out in the snow.

"I… we only met once." Judy whispered hoarsely. "That night was wonderful. He showed me a lot about myself that I was neglecting. How bitter and angry I was and how much that anger was hurting me."

Judy sighed and her shoulders sunk as she curled in on herself.

"He made me realize that even achieving my dream of being a cop wouldn't make me happy. Nothing could, no matter how hard I work or how much I try I would never be happy."

"He sounds like a jerk." Bonnie frowned. Judy let out a watery giggle.

"Yeah, he was kind of a jerk, but I wasn't exactly a saint either. But he was right. Being a cop wouldn't make me happy." Judy sniffed and wiped her eyes before looking her mother in the eyes. "He said only I could make me happy. Nothing and no one else could do it for me."

Bonnie took a breath and opened her mouth to retort but stopped to mull over what her daughter had just said. She closed her mouth and tilted her head in consideration.

"Actually… he's not wrong." Bonnie mumbled sheepishly. "Guess he's a wise jerk."

Judy laughed.

"Yeah, he was." The doe said wistfully.

"So..?" Bonnie hummed. Judy cocked her head.

"So… what?" Judy asked cluelessly.

"What happened after your talk of course!" Bonnie exclaimed. "That can't be it!"

"Well…" Judy shrugged. "He drove me home and I never saw him again."

"What?" Bonnie stared at her daughter in disbelief. "You mean you've been pining after this guy ever since?"

"I-I wouldn't exactly call it pining…" Judy blushed.

"How long ago was this… chance encounter?" Bonnie asked, mildly scared of the answer.

Judy avoided her mother's gaze and mumbled.

"What was that?" Bonnie leaned in. "I didn't quite hear that."

"S-since July…" Judy mumbled.

"July?!" Bonnie yelped. "That was five months ago!"

"Y-yeah…" Judy buried her face in her paws. "I told you I was just being stupid."

Bonnie curbed her tongue and rested her paw on the ashamed doe's cheek.

"You are not stupid bunbun. Lonely and need to get laid maybe-" Bonnie giggled mischievously.

"MOM!" Judy burst out in scandalized horror.

"-but you are strong and so smart Judy, and I am so proud of you." Her mother continued. "If I could I would take all your pain away, but you're a grown doe and I can't protect you from the world, or the heartbreaking jerks that live in it."

"Thanks mom." Judy sniffed. She was touched by her mother's confession. She slipped from the counter and wrapped her mother in a tight hug. "I love you."

"I love you too bunbun."

The two held each other, just savoring the moment when Judy broke the silence.

"You know what really hurt though?" She mumbled into her mother's shoulder. "He said that I would see him again…"

Bonnie opened her mouth to reply when the house phone rang, making both does nearly jump out of their fur. They shared a giggle and parted.

"That must be your brother Jared." Bonnie let out a long suffered sigh. " I swear if that child tries to skip on Christmas again…"

Bonnie shuffled over and plucked the aged landline from the wall.

"Hello? Jared? Hey honey. You aren't trying to skip out on Christmas Eve dinner again are you?"

Judy leaned her elbows on the counter and only half-listened to her mother's conversation until Bonnie's tone grew concerned.

"Your truck is what? Really?"

Judy's ears perked and she listened more intently with a worried look on her face.

"Truck tires don't just suddenly burst into bright green flame in the middle of a snowstorm Jared…" Bonnie half-growled, eliciting a giggle from Judy at her brother's lame attempt at lying.

Bonnie pinched her nose and sighed.

"Fine, fine. I'll send Judy over in the work truck. See you in a couple hours. Bye honey. Love you too."

Bonnie hung the phone back onto the wall and sighed.

"Sorry bunbun, but can you drive over and pick up your useless sibling and his wife and bring them over? Seems Jared is somehow worse with vehicles than I am." Bonnie huffed. "That kit, I swear…"

"Sure mom." Judy scooped up the truck keys from the bowl next to one of the sinks. "Though I don't know how well ol' blue will do in the snow."

"What, you're worried your tires will burst into flames too?" Bonnie snorted. "That truck is as stubborn as you are, bunbun. It'll be fine, just drive safe."

"I will mom. Be back in a bit. Save me a slice of that pie!" Judy called as she bounded from the kitchen to retrieve her jacket.

The garment was a little damp from her contemplative vigil out behind the burrow but would serve her well enough. She wove through the winding hallways until she found the garage and stepped out into the cold.

Something crinkled under her foot, peaking her curiosity.

Judy lifted her heal and saw a slightly wrinkled note laying on the welcome mat leading into the garage.

The note was short and scrawled in decorative golden ink.

Don't forget to buckle up!

¬-Father Christmas

It read.

Judy let out a good natured snort and snatched up the note. Her dad must have left it as a joke. Still, it was sweet.

The garage may be attached to the burrow but it didn't have any heating or air conditioning so the concrete underfoot was frigid to the point of aching.

Judy hopped over to the beat up old blue pick up as quickly as she could and threw herself onto its worn and lumpy leather seat.

"Cold, cold, cold!"

With practiced ease she slipped the keys into the ignition and cranked the truck to life. It coughed and belched a puff of smoke before reluctantly turning over.

Judy blasted the heat and sat for a moment to let the old clunker warm up before flicking on the headlights and pulling out of the garage into the snow covered night.

The roads were barely perceptible from the rest of the white laden landscape, Judy's only saving grace was an almost instinctual memory of Bunnyburrow's dirt trails and back roads and the fresh headlights her father had replaced only a month prior.

After settling into the rhythm of driving through the snow the doe flicked on the radio.

Naturally Christmas music rattled out of the tinny speakers.

"Last Christmas, I gave you may heart,

The very next day, you gave it away.

This year, to save me from tears,

I'll give it to someone special!"

Normally Judy loved this song. This Christmas though hit a little too close to home. Still, she sang along for all she was worth, her little dewlap tail bobbing and twitching to the beat as she bounced in time with the beat.

Every time the song hit a deep bass note the speakers squawked but Judy had grown up with this truck, it never bothered her.

About thirty minutes into her drive to her brother's home Judy had crossed into one of the forests that dotted the countryside between Bunnyburrow and Deerbrook.

The snowfall that had dropped off since her walk outside her home suddenly returned with a vengeance. B

y the time Judy had realized she was in danger a vicious flurry swept from the sky and howled through the forest, blinding her in a sheet of white and rocked the sturdy old truck.

Judy didn't even see the tree until Ol' Blue was already wrapped around its trunk.

It was around this moment, right before her face met the windshield, that Judy remembered the note she had stuffed in her pocket-

-and the seatbelt dangling still unused on the driver side door.


	3. Bunny, Its Cold Outside Pt 2 (2018 Xmas)

A/N: Untraveled here!

I know, I know, Christmas has already passed, but I still want to finish this little project. I had every intention of finishing it by Christmas day but I had to take over at work because a co-worker had issues at home. You know how it goes.

She was cold. She somehow knew that, though she had lost all feeling some time ago.

She was hurt. She forgot what had happened but she vaguely remembered she had done something stupid to make it worse. Or did she forget to do something that made it worse?

It hurt to remember, her head hurt, even just laying there and letting the cold enclose her hurt.

Then she felt warmth. It made her feel a little better, it pushed back the cold and held her carefully, away from the snow and her stupid mistake.

A soft whisper, a heartbroken apology.

She knew that voice. That smokey, husky, and addictive rumble that had plagued her dreams with promises of carnal delight and sinful pleasure.

He was crying, Begging.

"...My fault. Please, Dad. Don't take her yet… Please, not yet…" the voice pleaded.

 _Why would anyone be sad?_ The odd thought slogged to the surface of her addled mind. _It's Christmas Eve after all…_

She woke to a crackle of a fire and the comfortable weight of a thick blanket. That was all well and good, but along with the fire's life-giving heat also came a miserable, throbbing headache.

"Ow, ow, ow…" Judy moaned and screwed her already closed eyes tighter in pain.

 _Breathe Judes. Just breathe and get your bearings. Last you checked you were in the middle of nowhere driving to your brother's house._

After taking a few slow, deep breaths Judy cracked open her eyes.

She found herself in a house, the rustic sort she had seen in magazines and old Christmas movies. A tall fire blazed merrily in the brick fireplace across the heavenly soft couch she was lounged across.

When her eyes stopped burning from her vicious headache Judy reached a paw from beneath the grey wool blanket swaddled around her and felt around her head. Her fingers grazed a bandage pressed on her forehead and her swollen cheek just under her right eye.

 _I was in a car crash._ She remembered. _I hit a tree._

Then she remembered the note from the garage and she covered her eyes with a humiliated grimace and groaned.

 _And I forgot my SEATBELT! You call yourself a cop?! Stupid, stupid, STUPID!_

The doe moaned miserably and curled further under the blanket.

 _If anyone finds out that I forgot my seatbelt I am so screwed. Bogo will have my tail for a wall decoration and stick me on parking duty 'til next Christmas!_

A dull thump and a muffled curse snapped Judy from her misery.

There, just a few feet to the left of the fireplace was a fluffy red tail swishing back and forth. Like a scene from a cheesy Hallmark movie was the source of her wet workplace day-dreams, fussing over an obscenely ornate red book as he wrestled with an odd pile of decorations mostly hidden from view.

"Garland goes… why does it?... okay, okay." *Thump!* "grrhmm… that hurt. Stupid tree."

The scene before the bunny was so surreal, so unusual and out of character for the fox she had met in the bar that there was no question this was all some strange hallucination.

Despite this Judy watched in fascination as the fox straightened up with a frustrated huff with his back turned to her.

Her amethyst eyes widened when she saw not the sharp black suit but a rustic red plaid button up and thick woodland jeans hugging his surprisingly broad back and legs.

The fox pulled the book closer to his face and squinted down at the page, letting Judy get a glimpse of the cover. "The Christmas Almanac" it read, in golden decorative scroll over its cherry red cover.

For some reason the book's golden paw-writing reminded Judy of the note she had found in the garage.

"Okay, the cookies. I got the cookies… Milk? When did it say I need to set out milk? I don't have that. I hope bourbon will be alright… do I put it out before or after I put up the lights?"

The rustic dressed vulpine wrestled away a paper plate of peanut butter cookies and set them on an inviting pleather love seat before consulting the almanac once again.

"Wait, you want me to nail what exactly above the fireplace? Are those supposed to be socks? Those went out of style back in Robin Hood's day.. I suppose I do have one or two pairs around somewhere…"

The fox plopped on the floor and sighed in exasperation.

"Christmas is weird."

A quickly stifled giggle from the bunny burrito on the couch behind him pulled a soft smile from the harried vulpine.

"You find my pain amusing Officer Carrots?"

The bun burrito gave a start and popped her head from her cozy hiding place.

"Only when you vanish for months on end without so much as a warning." Judy replied with a hint of anger. "I thought for the longest that you had broken your promise or were avoiding me because of something I had done."

Nick's back was still to her so Judy could see the way his ears twitched as it they had been slapped.

"I wasn't avoiding you Carrots." The fox replied in a subdued tone. "My work takes me wherever the wind blows."

The fox let out a heavy sigh. "It's not like I have much of a choice in the matter."

"How are you feeling?" Nick asked, abruptly changing the subject. The vulpine spun around and stayed on the carpet with the almanac left next to the decorations in the corner.

The gray bunny creased her eyebrows, feeling the broken skin over her right eye stretch against a bandage.

"like I was just forcefully ejected from a salt shaker." Judy prodded the bandage and jerked back when her finger poked just a little too hard over the wound.

The doe turned back to the fox and found his glowing emerald eyes on her with a powerful intensity. She had to swallow to gather her nerve. "I assume you saved me?"

"I did." Nick replied carefully. "Though you didn't exactly make it easy, not wearing your seatbelt and all." A sly grin turned his toothy muzzle. "And here I thought you of all mammals, and a cop no less, would follow the law."

Judy's ears turned red and drooped in shame.

"I… forgot." She mumbled to her blanket covered toes. "It's not like we always care much about stuff like that way out here in the sticks."

"Mhmmm." The fox hummed. "Sure…"

Judy buried her head in her paws.

"I'm an idiot."

"I agree, it's not your best moment Carrots." Nick too some pity on the distraught doe. "But you're alive, and that's all that matters."

"I find it strange that you _just so happened_ to show up now of all times to swoop in and save me though." Judy wiped at her face and cocked her head towards Nick. She noted the way his smile had faded into a guarded frown.

"Why are you here Nick?" The doe stared down the devil in the red flannel shirt. "and who's house did you break us into?"

The fox regained his composure unnaturally fast, his trademark disarming grin plastered on his sharp features like a mask.

"Okay, First off, this is a cabin, not a house." He drawled through half-lidded eyes. "Second, this is _my_ cabin."

"And three?" Judy pressed.

Nick's smile faded, his mask cracked.

"I…I came because I made a deal." He murmured.

The rabbit felt like someone had punched her straight in the chest. What excitement she had felt from seeing him again went up in smoke.

"So… the only reason why you bothered to show up now is because of your work." Judy murmured, her voice turning cold as the snow outside.

Nick flinched, a panicked light in his emerald eyes.

"No, not tonight Carrots. I'm not working tonight, I swear." His words tumbled frantically from his lips, though even then they were smooth as silk and husky as smoke. It was a voice Judy was coming to understand that she can't trust.

"You just said that you don't have a say in the matter where your work takes you." She accused a blunt claw stabbed in his direction.

"No that's-"

"So which one is it?" Judy cut him off. "Are you really at the whim of whatever power you work for? Or did you decide to just up and disappear, only to come back around when you want something from me?"

The doe felt a venomous brand of satisfaction from the look of hurt on Nick's normally flawlessly casual face. He had played her heart and yanked her around for almost half the year, and only now did he _bother_ to show up? When he wanted to make a deal. No, she wanted him to feel a little of the same pain that she felt now. She won't be giving him the satisfaction of using her.

"No I…" Nick gapped up at her, at a loss for words.

"You know what? Save it." Judy finished, her anger burning hot just below the surface.

It wasn't all anger pointed towards the fox before her. She was angry at herself for being so stupid and wrecking Ol' Blue, not to mention her brother would have noticed she still hadn't arrived by now and would begin to worry him and the rest of her family.

She was exhausted and her anger was the only thing keeping her going at this point.

Judy threw off the blanket, it took her a couple seconds to figure out why it had suddenly gotten so cold.

"I'M NAKED?!" She squeaked, throwing her paws over her nethers and chest.

Nick sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Why am I naked?!" Judy near growled, her paws curling into fists as she fought the urge to throttle the fox crooking an eyebrow at her.

"Isn't that what you are supposed to do when a mammal is freezing with wet clothes?" He asked. His tone sounded far too innocent for Judy's taste.

"Well, what do you think?!" She cried, as she dove for the blanket fluttering to the floor and jumped back onto the couch.

"That's what the first aid kit from your truck said anyway." Nick shrugged. "I'm not exactly a normal mammal after all."

"How you would do it then?" She hissed.

"Carrots," Nick looked back at her with an exasperated half-lidded gaze. "I'm literally from Hell. I don't get cold."

She didn't have an argument against that, though all that did was remind her of what he was, and the heartache and betrayal he had caused her. To think she had actually considered him a friend (or perhaps more). Now just thinking about how she had lusted after him left an ashy taste in her mouth.

"Well, can you get my clothes then?" She snapped.

"Sure." Nick climbed to his feet and snaked his way from the living room, revealing to her for the first time what he had been working on.

A tangled bundle of silver garland, little red and green tree ornaments and a trail of Christmas lights lay on the floor around a tiny little pine tree branch sticking up from a pot of dirt. The big red book he had been referencing lay beside the laughably pitiful gathering of holiday decorations.

Judy didn't really know what to make of it. What was he trying to do? It looked like he had been trying to decorate that little pine branch like a Christmas tree and failing miserably at it.

Then there were the cookies sitting on the love seat. Was he planning on leaving those out like kits would do for Santa Claws?

Her curious investigation was halted when Nick returned with her clothes folded neatly over one arm.

"I washed and dried them as quick as I co-"

Judy snatched her clothes and pulled them to her lap and glared at the fox to leave so she could get dressed.

Once he retreated from the room she slipped on her slightly wrinkled clothes, sans her canvas jacket.

Once she was comfortably clothed once again Judy sat on the couch and stared at the fire while she fought and wrangled the maddening maelstrom of emotions swirling in the pit of her stomach.

 _He never really cared, did he? I'm such a dumb, gullible bunny. It must have been an act from the very beginning._

A sting of pain pressed against her skull, reminding her of the bandage above her eye.

 _What now?_

"Are you decent Carrots?"

 _Speak of the devil…_

"Yeah, sure." She mumbled reluctantly.

The door opened once again and Nick drifted across the room with a paw behind his back and a vulnerable expression on his face.

The crimson furred vulpine hesitated and knelt in front of her, bringing both of them at an even eye level.

"I…" He began, the usual hell-fire dancing behind his emerald eyes was doused, as was his usual bravado. He seemed… nervous, almost _guilty._

"I know this Christmas eve hadn't exactly gone to way you wanted it to." He said.

"No kidding." Judy crossed her arms and briefly considered swinging one of her hanging feet in his face out of pure frustration. It would be uncalled for, but she was still angry.

"B-but since you couldn't get to your brother's house with your wrecked truck and all I was hoping I cou-"

"Wait." Judy cut him off, her heart seizing in her chest. "How did you know about that?"

Nick hesitated, his paw still behind his back and his mouth frozen open.

"You…" Judy's eye narrowed in fury. "it was YOU! Jared wasn't lying! _You_ set his tires on fire, did you?"

Nick flinched and put a paw up in hopes of appeasing the furious bunny.

"J-judy I can explain."

"What's there to explain?" The doe snarled. "You used your devil magic or something to set his tires on fire knowing that I would come out here to pick him up, right?"

Nick's eye widened in something akin to fear.

"W-well, yes, but-"

"You did all this just to get me alone!" She cried. She actually took a swing at his nose with her foot and just barely missed, the fox backed away from her, still on his rump and with a paw outstretched in front of his face.

"It's your fault I was out here in that blizzard, isn't it?"

"C-carrots-"

"Oooh, don't you 'carrots' me! You're the reason I crashed my truck! You almost got me killed!" The doe growled.

She leapt from the couch and stomped over to the cowering fox.

"Well?" She sneered. "You're plan worked, didn't it? I'm here now! Right where you want me!" She spread her arms out wide, inviting him to try something.

"So? What scheme does the dastardly devil have planned for the poor little bunny on Christmas eve?" She asked sweetly, her paws intertwined against her chest in a dainty fashion.

"There's no scheme Judy! Please believe me. I just…" Nick pleaded. The devil _actually pleaded._

When he trailed off, once again at a loss for words the doe scoffed and spun away. She patted her pockets and found her phone where she had left it, but when she pressed the home button she found she had no signal.

"Why does this thing never work when I actually need it!" She growled.

"Technology and I don't exactly get along." Nick stated in a small voice.

"Of course, why would it?" Judy rolled her eyes, her angry flaring. "Guess I'm walking."

She made for the front door and found her jacket hanging on a hook next to it.

"Wait!" Nick cried and scrambled up to her. "The snow storm has gotten worse! You'll freeze!"

Judy turned and glared down at him with fire in her eyes.

"Better I freeze than staying another second here with you."

The fox doubled over like she had socked him in the gut. He braced himself against the wall.

"Carrots- Judy- Please, just wait a little longer for the storm to pass, please."

Judy narrowed her amethyst eyes at the pleading fox and yanked the door open anyway.

A frigid blast of snow and wind rose up to meet her as soon as the door swung open. The cold stung her eyes and bit at her nose.

Worst of all, she couldn't see the road. She had no idea where in the forest she was.

That's when she had an idea.

When she closed the door a small glimmer of hope lit up in Nick's face. Hope that quickly soured into unease when the bunny turned to him with a sly glare in her amethyst eyes.

"I want to make a deal." Judy said. "You're a devil, it's what you do, right?"

Nick looked worried now. "What are you suggesting?"

"You're worried I'll freeze out there right?" Judy swept a little gray paw to the howling wind pounding against the door. "I want you to stop the snow storm."

"No." Nick shook his head. "I can't."

"Why not?" Judy asked in an enticing hum. "You haven't even heard what I'm offering."

Nick pinned her with a gravely serious glare. "Rabbit, I couldn't pull that kind of stunt off even if I wanted to."

"Even if I gave you my soul?"

Nick's eyes widened in shock, his ears snapped to attention and his tail bristled.

"No." He furiously shook his head and backed away. "No way. No deal."

Judy advanced on the fox, for every step forward she took he stumbled back two more.

"It's what you wanted, isn't it?" She pressed. "Why can't you? Is my soul not worth that much?"

Nick's retreat ended when his back pressed into the back of the couch. When Judy stepped into his space he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her to arms' length.

"Judy, you are is worth so much more than that." He whispered, his voice turning hoarse.

"Than why?" the doe hissed, batting his paws away and yanking him down to eye-level by his collar. "Why do this to me?!"

She shoved at him and thrust a blunt claw at his chest. "You said it yourself, you're only here because of a deal! Now you're saying you don't want to make one! Coward! You are a filthy Coward Nick Wilde!"

Nick gently pushed her paw away. "Judy, please. Just stay a little while longer. Please."

The bunny doe growled and stomped her foot in fury. "No, I will not. We are going to make this deal and there is-"

"Please!" Nick cried. The fox slid to the floor, his flannel shirt disheveled and his eyes screwed shut.

"I can't watch you do this to yourself Judy." He whimpered. "I don't want to do this. Please don't make me do this to you… Please."

The doe froze in shock. Her anger wavered in the face of the one being she never thought would break, and over something like this. He had curled in on himself as if to shield himself from the deal she was suggesting.

Nick stayed like this, hardly daring to breath until he heard the front door slam closed and a brutal silence descended onto the lonely cabin.


	4. Bunny, Its Cold Outside Pt 3 (2018 Xmas)

The cabin door slammed shut behind her, though the only thing she could hear was the howling wind and the pounding of her heart.

Judy felt sick. A sort of twisting, churning nausea she had only read about in cheesy romance novels and bittersweet fan fiction. It felt like her stomach was being wrung out to dry as claws reached down and slowly peeled her heart apart from the inside.

Within seconds the snow storm had sucked out what remaining heat had clung to the bunny's jacket and fur, sending violent shivers ricketing down her arms and legs.

The swirling droves of cold and snow howling through the shadow drowned forest seemed to reflect the turmoil in her heart, both frigid and chaotic and yet so empty and hopeless.

She let out a sigh, her breath bellowed back across her face, brushing over her cheeks and tickling her chilly little pink nose.

 _That was not how I thought seeing him would go._ She thought as frustrated tears threatened to spill from her downcast eyes. _Though, I guess I didn't know what I was expecting…_

"Merry bloody Christmas indeed…" The bunny snorted.

Curling her arms around her chest and hunching her head to her shoulders Judy took the first few tentative steps out into the snow swept forest, her feet dragging heavily with her hurt and regret.

She felt something crinkle underfoot just as she stepped off the cabin's front porch. Her ears flipped up, yanking her jacket's hood off her head in an odd angle as she looked down saw the edge of a piece of paper trapped under her heel.

 _A letter? It wasn't here just a second ago…_ She lifted her foot and instantly recognized the whooping golden script etched onto the cardstock.

 _Give him a chance._

 _-Father Christmas_

"Another one of his tricks!" Judy snarled. In a fury she snatched up the letter, crumpled it up and threw it as hard as she could into the howling forest.

The furious bunny doe watched the crumpled letter sail away into the dark and stormed off into the forest her anger swirling madly in the pit of her stomach.

She slipped her cell phone form her pocket and although Nick's cabin was out of sight she still had no signal. After waving the device around like a loon the irate bunny growled and stuffed it back in her pocket.

"Stupid fox, stupid phone, stupid snow storm, stupid letter, stupid Christmas! I hate it! I hate it!"

She rambled, muttered and screamed out to the snow and the cold, but her only the wind answered, buffeting her tiny frame and battling her every step. On more than one occasion a gust had nearly blown her over into a snowdrift. If she had fallen there was no telling what sort of sharp and nasty thing the thick blanket of snow had hidden.

The pine trees the surrounded her loomed ever higher as their branches reached across the cloud strewn sky to cast shadowy claws on the frozen undergrowth below and submerge whole swaths of the forest in blue tinted darkness.

Judy's tirade died away as the snow's chill soaked into her feet and legs, sucking the warmth from her blood and deadening her sense of touch until all that remained as a painful static buzzing in her stiff muscles.

After about 10 minutes of struggling Judy found the snow had crept up to waist level and was quickly adding to its height. A jolt of fear rippled up her spine. The weather was tanking out here and it was only getting worse. She even knew how bad snowstorms can get out here in the burrows and in her blind anger she still ignored Nick's pleas.

It was around this moment that the doe began to question her most recent life decisions.

 _Where is the road?_

She stumbled to a stop in a pool of dim, shrouded moonlight and checked her phone.

Still no signal.

She stuffed her phone in her pocket and looked back at where she had come. To her horror she watched her tracks vanish before her eyes, leaving her hopelessly lost.

 _Well, scat…_ What now?

A harsh tempest howled from the heavens and bore down on the distraught bunny. The frigid snow stung her eyes and stabbed at her exposed nose, making her cover her face with her sleeve.

 _I can't stay here, that's for sure. I just have to keep going, there are roads crisscrossing the forest all over, I'm bound to find one eventually and call for help. I should have forced Nick to take me back to where Ol' Blue is._

A pair of glowing green eyes emerged to the forefront of her mind. She furiously shook her head and bared her clattering buckteeth in a strained growl.

Just the _thought_ of that manipulating liar reignited her smoldering anger all over again.

 _This is all HIS fault._

Brooding on Nick's betrayal wouldn't get her out of this snowstorm any faster though, so Judy pulled up her big girl britches and marched on.

It didn't take long for her to come back into a clearing of moonlight to realize she was traveling in circles.

 _Seriously?!_

Turning around Judy watched her tracks disappear once again, leaving her without a guide. Her shoulders slumped in disbelief, but she quickly gathered her wits and squared herself, like a proper police officer would.

 _No way am I going to let a little snow and wind beat me!_

With fire in her eyes and her determination steeled against the encroaching cold creeping up her legs she marched on, this time using what few glimpses of the moon she could see as a point of reference.

Ten minutes or so later she found herself back in that little clearing.

 _Again!_

She set off, this time cutting a mark in the trees as she passed them.

It was twenty minutes of constantly checking her phone for signal and bumping into trees this time before she stumbled back into the pool of moonlight.

She growled in frustration and shook the frost from her furred cheeks and jacket before setting off once again.

Four more times she marched off, and four more times she found herself in one giant circle when her ironclad resolve eroded away and a tiny whimper slipped from the bunny's trembling lips.

 _I'm lost._

The hopeless despair that had been held at bay by her anger peaked and broke, flooding her core and dragging her heart down into its sluggish depths.

Judy Hopps, the indominable bunny cop, gave up.

The bunny sank to her knees and curled in on herself in a vain attempt to conserve what little heat her tiny body had left. She sat in the snow, hugged her knees to her chest and buried her head between them.

With nothing left and no hope Judy cried, after a few minutes she just felt drained. Sweeping her hood off with one paw the little gray bunny turned her reddened amethyst eyes skyward, towards the moon peaking out through the clouds between the break in the branches.

"If anyone's out there, if… anyone's listening… help me… show me where to go." Judy whispered to the moon.

No one answered.

A sudden gust of sharp wind swept through the clearing, as if the forest was mocking the bunny ensnared in its clutches. Judy closed her eyes against the stinging tempest when something smacked her square in the face and stuck in the collar of her jacket.

Judy let out a squeak of surprise and dislodged the offending scrap of litter and found a familiar crumpled piece of paper flapping in between her frozen fingers.

With nothing to lose she unfolded the ice encrusted cardstock and unveiled the whooping golden script.

 _Give him a chance._

 _-Father Christmas_

"Really?" Judy scowled down at the letter, her paws crumpling the edges of the thick paper as they clenched into trembling fists.

"This is your _help_?!" She snarled at the whooping golden letters glittering innocently back up at her.

"Why?" Judy glared at the vague signature at the bottom of the page. "Why should I?"

In response the golden script faded away and Judy watched awestruck as an unseen hand wrote three simple golden words on the page.

 _I'll show you._

A heavy sigh behind her snapped Judy from her shocked stare. When she looked up she found herself back in Nick's living room.

 _What? Who? Where?!_

Judy's mind struggled to catch up with the rest of her as she gaped in disbelief in her surroundings.

 _What's going on?!_

A heart wrenching sigh yanked the disoriented bunny back to reality, pulling her attention to the object of her scorn.

Nick was still dressed in his flannel shirt and jeans, but they were now disheveled and seemed to hang off of his frame like rags on a broken beggar.

The fox's ears drooped and his long bushy tail dragged limply on the ground as he trudged across the living room with a tiny wrapped box in his paw. Judy could just make out her name on the little tag attached to the box.

Nick set the little present on the ground beneath his little Christmas tree and pulled the Christmas Almanac closer to him and began to read with a forlorn expression of sadness on his face.

"Take the decorations by the wire hook and… on an adequate branch… the star goes at the very top? I don't have a star… one of these orb things are going to have to do. Sorry Dad."

Nick hadn't seemed to notice her yet. Judy took several uncertain steps towards him.

Nick took a gold ball ornament and very gently hooked it near the top of the tiny little Christmas tree standing straight and valiant from its clay pot.

"There." He announced proudly. He let go and leaned back to admire his work.

The little Christmas tree struggled bravely for a moment before the ball ornament's weight became too much and the tree bent at its base and drooped over all the way to the floor.

Nick's throat jerked from a heart wrenching whimper and he hung his head in sorrow.

Judy stuttered to a stop at the sight of the heartbroken fox sitting dejected in front of his drooping tree.

Judy outstretched a paw towards the fox's back as she fought with her aching chest to spit out the words.

The loud bang of the front door smashing back into its frame caused Judy to nearly jump out of her fur and whip around to find the disturbance.

Her brow broke into a cold sweat when she also realized that the racket would have drawn Nick's attention also, and sure enough when she turned to look he was staring right at her-

-with Hell-fire blazing in his glowing emerald eyes.

Her breath caught in Judy's throat as she looked at the naked hatred on his handsome face.

"I was wondering when you'd show up." He snarled, his smooth voice deepened and twisted into a soul shaking rumble that turned the bunny's legs to jelly with fear.

"Nick?" Judy stammered.

The fox rose from his place on the floor, his hackles standing on end and his claws unsheathed.

Judy stumbled back in fright and nearly screamed when an even deeper, and perhaps more _evil,_ voice answered right behind her.

"Did ya expect your insolence to go unpunished?" The intruder growled.

Judy risked a peek behind her and saw an unfamiliar pot-bellied red fox blocking the doorway.

unfamiliar vulpine's cold blue eyes glowed in the half-darkness, those sapphire depths looked soulless and empty.

Nick let slip a husky chuckle.

"Nice to know that Lucy really _does_ care." Nick drawled.

The pudgy fox's lips peeled back to reveal rows upon rows of shark like teeth. His shadow crept up and adorned the vulpine like vile, inky armor, the repulsive, squirming shroud clawed around the furious male's shoulders.

Judy screamed in fear and tried to scramble away when the monster's claws pierced her chest-

-and the rest of it just passed right through her like she wasn't even there.

The bunny blinked in disbelief and stared down at her paws and saw that they were transparent, even the letter she was holding. She could see right through them.

 _T-they can't see me? I… am I a ghost? What's going on?!_

That particular can of worms would have to wait as the intruder's voice shook the living room once again.

" _Lucifer_ wants to have a little chat." The intruder growled. He took a menacing step forward, letting the sleeker vulpine it wasn't a request.

A savage and oddly smug grin split Nick's lips.

"Well, sorry to disappoint the cranky old windbag but I'm afraid I'm on a little vacation, so slither along." Nick waved his paws in a shooing motion. "Go on, git!"

The pudgy fox's form distorted and warped into a nightmare of teeth and shadow.

"Lucifer said to bring you, he never said you had ta be in one piece." The fox snickered in a sound reminiscent of rusty nails on a chalkboard.

Nick snickered, the monster's grin faltered.

"You know as well as I do that you can't drag me anywhere, at least not today, this is Dad's night after all." Nick raised an eyebrow condescendingly and crossed his arms.

" _YOU"LL DO AS I SAY OR I'll-!"_ The intruder bellowed and his body stretched and snarled.

"You'll what?" Nick cut in, a paw digging nonchalantly inside his flannel shirt and producing an unlit cigar. He waved the rolled tobacco at the monstrosity brushing with his living room's ceiling like he was admonishing a naughty child. "You'll tear my _other_ wing off?"

"Do not tempt me!" The intruder snarled.

The stranger took a long, deep breath and sniffed the air. Slowly an ominous grin spread across its face. Nick's smirk fell apart into a worried mask as the shadow monster shrank back into the vague shape of a black shrouded fox in overalls.

"I see you've had a visitor." The fox-thing commented. "A rather _tasty_ morsel at that. I can see why you would bring her here. Her soul smells… intoxicating. Perhaps you left some for me?"

A tiny squeak of terror slipped involuntarily from Judy's lips. The bunny shrank from the strange fox.

Nick's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"She is far from here by now. You'll never catch her Gideon."

The intruder- Gideon- grinned wider.

"We will see about that."

Suddenly Nick had vanished from beside the little drooping Christmas tree and reappeared a hairsbreadth from Gideon's nose in a burst of swirling purple smoke.

"If you so much as touch her…" He snarled in a voice just barely above a whisper.

Gideon's smile vanished into an outraged scowl.

"You think you can threaten me you low demon FILTH!" The intruder roared. "Know your Place!"

Judy fell to the floor with a cry as six jet black wings burst from Gideon's back.

Nick seemed unimpressed with the display.

"I do know my place." He sniffed nonchalantly and balanced the unlit cigar on his lip. "My place is here, on Earth, making deals and bartering for mortal souls. Just like yours is down in Hell, Licking Lucy's foot claws clean, like you always do."

Gideon snarled and flexed his claws until they grew into wicked shadowy scythes.

"You are coming with me filth." The intruder growled.

"Under what charge, exactly?" Nick drawled.

The demon's wicked claws snatched out and dug into Nick's neck, dragging him up and dangling him helplessly off the floor.

"You _prayed._ " Gideon snarled in disgust at the fox staring back at him unflinching, even as the curved claws sank deeper into his flesh.

"I… made… a… deal…" Nick choked.

"You. Did. What?" Gideon hissed.

Nick grinned, his emerald eyes sparkling with mischief.

"All the souls… I had collected in the past year… and in exchange… I get to speak with her… one more time _."_

A small gasp slipped from Judy's lips.

Gideon's blue eyes widen in disbelief before his features twisted in rage and the monster threw the insolent devil into the cabin wall with a furious bellow.

"YOU WORM!"

A gurgled chuckle bubbled up from Nick's throat. The fox climbed unsteadily to his feet and lit the cigar between his lips with a flick of his claw and grinned.

"It's called a hustle scumbag." Nick chuckled.

A soul-rending screech of rage erupted from Gideon's maw as his figure warped back into the shadow-monster from before.

"After I'm done with you I'm going to find your rabbit and tear her heart from her chest and rend her soul to oblivion!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Nick snarled.

The fox flexed his shoulders and a single wing erupted from his back. Nick's wing was ragged, whole swaths of jet black feathers were missing and much of the unholy appendage looked shredded, as if he had torn them off with his own claws.

Then the two devils roared and collided with a mighty crash of shadow, smoke and blood.

Nick fought like a cornered savage, the smaller devil ripped and tore Gideon's shadowy flesh with tooth and claw in bursts of unearthly speed. Yet for all his power though Gideon easily proved his better.

A massive scythe-like claw soon found Nick's stomach, shredding the flannel shirt and bursting out of his back.

Nick gurgled in agony, but just as Gideon's shark toothed maw split into a triumphant grin the one-winged devil smashed his lit cigar straight into the monster's eye.

Gideon threw his paws to his face with a howl, dislodging Nick and sending him crashing into his little Christmas tree. The impact shattered the clay pot and smashing the decorations into smithereens.

Gideon ripped the cigar from his eye and turned his remaining eye on the one-winged devil struggling to rise from his knees.

"You're going to pay for that." The monster snarled.

Nick panted and looked out of the side of his eye up at the shadow-thing looming over him.

"Hey Gideon, I forgot to tell you." A sly grin pulled at the edges of the fox's lips.

"Dad says Merry Christmas."

Gideon howled in rage and stabbed Nick through his back with his claws, the wicked points skewered the helpless devil and dug into the floor before he dragged Nick until they were face to face.

Gideon's eye flicked to the fireplace.

"An eye for an eye." He growled before shoving Nick's head into the roaring flames.

Judy cried out as the monster cackled in laughter at the fox's screams of agony as he was burned alive. His bloodied flannel caught fire as his red fur and flesh went up in smoke.

"Nick! Oh God! Nick!" Judy cried and leapt at Gideon in a vicious double heeled kick. To her horror she slipped through his body like a specter and bounced off the floor.

"No!" She yelled. "Why can't I hit you!" She bounded over and tried to pry the claws skewered through Nick's body, only for her paws to pass them like smoke.

Oblivious to the spectral rabbit fighting with everything she could to free his victim Gideon held Nick there until he figured the one-winged devil hadn't suffered enough and began to stomp on the back of Nick's head his screaming stopped.

Seeing his bloody work had come to an end Gideon slid his claws free and shook the viscera from his wicked points.

"Pathetic." The devil spat. The he smiled. "I'm going you enjoy hunting down your tasty slut and feeding on her soul."

Gideon shrank back into a pot-bellied fox and before stalking from the devastated cabin took the time to shred the Christmas Almanac into ribbons. Then he kicked the front door off its hinges and vanished into the night with a bloodthirsty howl.

Judy was kneeling next to the fireplace and staring at Nick's unmoving body in horror.

"Oh… oh Nick…" She sniffled.

Even though she couldn't touch him she still reached out a translucent paw towards his tattered and ragged wing, but right before she reached him the cabin vanished and her paw instead found snow.

She was back on her knees in the clearing.

"No!" Judy screamed, her body trembling and hot tears pouring from her eyes. She pounded the snow in helpless frustration. "No! I-I-I need to g-go back!"

She gasped. "The letter!"

Judy's breath hitched in relief at finding the gold inscribed letter still clutched safe and sound in her paw. She pulled it flat with both paws and tried to talk in a level voice.

"Please. I-I need to go b-back! Please! G-give me a sec-cond c-chance!" Judy begged.

For a split second nothing changed, then the golden letters faded away and were replaced by three small words that made her burst into tears again.

 _So be it._

She knew what to expect this time, but she was still left in awe when she looked up and saw Nick's cabin just a few feet away, his front door smashed into matchsticks on his front porch.

Judy scrambled from the snow and flew through the front door. Without the fire the only light filtered in through the front entrance, leaving everything submerged in blue shadows.

The cold in her limbs forgotten Judy stumbled through the dark around the smashed love seat and the shattered Christmas ornament shards strewn across the devastated cabin.

When she made it to the fire place where Nick's body lay Judy slid to her knees beside his body and reached out and touched his back. He still felt warm.

That did little to fix the grief that struck her like a tidal wave.

Nick was gone.

 _He died fighting to see me again…_

Nick's body faded into blotches of distorted color as helpless tears filled Judy's amethyst eyes. She shook her head furiously.

 _N-no. don't cry, not yet._

Judy scrubbed her the tears from her eyes and grabbed Nick's shirt and dragged him as gently as she could from the smoldering fireplace. The stench of burnt flesh and fur stung her nose and bit at her eyes but that hardly phased her.

Carefully she turned him over onto his back and with shaking paws reached up towards his head. She stopped just short though, his once handsome face was shrouded by the dark, something she was almost thankful for.

Judy wasn't sure she could handle seeing him like that. Not after finding out the real reason why his work is so grueling.

 _Was… why his work was so grueling._

Instead her paw found his wing. The black feathers were soft, so much unlike the feathers of crows she had found before on the farm. Even though his wing was shredded and worn they were beautiful, a perfect reflection of Nick's soul.

Her paw traced the bald scars running across his wing, her fingers sank into the soft feathers. For some reason that tipped her control over the edge and bunny fought to choke back her tears.

"That tickles."

A tiny squeak tore itself from Judy's lips and her fists clenched on reflex, yanking on the feathers trapped between them.

"And now it hurts." The voice coughed.

 _No, it couldn't. He's-!_

"N-Nick?" Judy asked in a watery, trembling warble.

She flinched back when the fox's body jerked and a cloud of charcoal and blood ejected from his throat with a wet cough.

Judy wasn't even aware of her paws releasing his wing and cupping his seared cheeks and supporting his head as he hacked and spat out the refuse he had inhaled.

The bunny whispered little sweet nothings to him, her entire body still trembling from the butterflies swarming in her stomach and the giddy overwhelming joy fueled tears spilling from her eyes.

Though she couldn't see through the gloom Judy could feel Nick's head warp and ripple in her paws. At first she thought she was just imagining it until the paw she had on his cheek was pushed back by a fresh coat of thick fur.

She never took her eyes off of his shadow shrouded face, not until whatever was happening to him was finished. Her patience was rewarded as a twin pools of emerald light appeared and blinked up at her. the pools crinkled into a smile.

"Hey." Nick whispered, his smoky voice soft and caressing.

"Hey you." Judy sniffed and blinked some of the wetness from her eyes.

The bunny felt a large paw cup her cheek and wipe away a few of her tears.

"You came back." Nick breathed in quite disbelief. His thumb trailing across her face in silent wonder.

"I-I did." Judy replied. In a burst of confidence she placed her paw over his and nuzzled into his touch.

"Why?"

She paused to think for a moment.

"I had some help." She said simply. "They helped me understand what… why you did the things you did."

Nick let out a dry chuckle. "I see."

"You're not going to ask who it was?" Judy asked.

"I already know who it was." Nick whispered in reply. His thumb brushed her lips and then booped her nose, making it twitch.

"Oh?" Judy cocked an eyebrow. "Then who was it, Mister Devil?"

"Did you forget what day it is? Who else could it be?" Nick chuckled. "Why Father Christmas of course."

The dumbstruck look on the bunny's face pulled another raspy chuckle from the fox.

Once he ended his laughter Nick reluctantly pulled his paw away from Judy's cheek and dragged himself to his feet to assess his ravaged cabin.

"I can't have my humble abode in such a disheveled state of duress, not with such a cute guest present."

"Don't call me cute." Judy shot back with a joking glare.

"You know you like it." He sang back as his ragged wing unfurled and the cabin shook in response.

"…Only when you say it." The bunny doe mumbled softly.

Nick glanced back at her with a glimmer in his eye before returning to the task at paw and snapped his fingers.

With a sound like air rushing into a vacuum seal the world around the pair bent like a rubber band and snapped back into focus, leaving them in the center of a well-lit living room with the fire one again blazing merrily and the furniture whole again.

The only difference was the Christmas decorations and the little tree, they still remained smashed and useless. The tree was on its side, the clay pot destroyed and the soil spilled all over the corner of the room next to the Almanac.

Judy padded over and kneeled down next to the toppled little tree with a regretful frown.

"I'm sorry your tree is ruined." She said.

"It's fine." Nick stumbled over on shaking legs and fell onto his couch with a strangled sigh, his wing flopped across the cushion next to him, displaying just how exhausted he had become after his fight with the other devil. "I'm not good at the whole Christmas thing anyway."

The rabbit scooted around and regarded the fox. His flannel shirt was still burnt from the chest up with gashes torn in the fabric, but there didn't seem to be any bloodstains left after he… yanked the room back into order.

A sudden thought hit her and a snort of laughter escaped her.

"What?" Nick asked. He had set his head against cushion and laid his arms across the back of the couch with his eyes closed.

"All of this." Judy waved at his tattered clothes and smashed decorations. "for just praying."

A tiny tired smile crept across Nick's muzzle, his razor sharp teeth peeking out from his lips.

"So you saw all of that too, did you?" He huffed.

"I-I did." The bunny murmured. She bit her lip, sudden rush of indecisive nerves struck her. This was the perfect opportunity, but… could she take it?

"And even after seeing all of that… you still came back." Nick kept speaking, his husky rumble filling the pregnant silence. The devil seemed to make it both easier and harder for her at the same time to work up her courage.

"I did."

She made her decision. The gray bunny shed her jacket and quietly padded over to the couch-bound fox.

"Even after what I did. Even after the pain I caused you." Nick muttered hoarsely, his voice cracking slightly. "You.. you still came back."

Judy took a deep breath and laid a paw over his.

"I did." She whispered.

The fox flinched away from her touch as if he was afraid, but he never tried to pull away from her. Instead he opened his eyes and met her own amethyst gaze.

A dozen heartbeats passed before either remembered to breathe.

"I…" Nick averted his gaze, his wing twitched against Judy's back. She didn't move though, not until he slid his paw from beneath hers and in a bold move gently wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her against his side. Her paw found his brunt shirt instead and this time she refused to let go.

"I'm sorry Judy." Nick murmured, his hot breath tickled against her velvety ear. "I'm so, so sorry. Can… can you forgive me?"

"I already have." Judy replied. "But I am still mad at you." She added, shooting him a sideways glare.

"I know." He replied.

Judy could feel the small grin spread on his face as he tighten his hold on her. She snuggled closer, content in finally getting what she had wanted.

 _But… why not go for broke?_

"Nick?"

"Hmm?" He replied in a dreamy mumble.

"I want to make a deal." Judy murmured.

Nick's chest rumbled in a low chuckle.

"Do you now? Name your terms Miss Hopps."

"I want you to hold me just like this and in exchange... I'll stay for the night."

"I think I'd like that." Nick whispered.

They stayed curled together, the devil and the bunny, until well into the morning hours. The bunny drifted off to sleep, reveling in the glowing warmth that held her. The devil basked in the moment, treasuring the small doe that came back for him.

She had slipped from his shoulder and rested her head in his lap, her nose buried in his stomach and her paws clutching desperately at his shirt.

Long after she had fallen asleep Nick looked down at the breathtaking creature in his arms in silent wonder. The devil marveled at how his father could make such a beautiful creation.

Leaning forward Nick ran a paw softly over her ears and smiled at the delightful shiver that ran down her small body.

"Merry Christmas Sweetheart."

Though she wasn't sure, the bunny thought she heard him through her dreams and whisper up to the heavens.

"Thank you Dad."

"-udy! JUDY!"

The bunny jerked awake and flinched from the cold snow melting through her clothes, her canvas jacket nowhere to be found.

"Here! I think I found her! Here!" She heard her Jared's deeper voice cry.

The doe groaned and sat up, her bleary eyes blinking furiously to adjust to the morning dawn spilling out through the forest canopy.

She felt, more than heard, the crunch of snow under rapidly approaching foot paws. A brown paw wrapped around her shoulders and hauled her to her feet.

"I got you Judes." Jared said in a calming voice.

Judy didn't even look at her brother, her expression was still lost and blank as she tried to reorient herself. Everything clicked when she saw Ol' Blue's crumpled frame still wrapped around a sturdy oak.

She vaguely registered the hole in the windshield she had made when she was ejected out of the cab on impact.

"Oh Jared! Is she okay!" Bonnie bounded from the family minivan and nearly barreled into her son and daughter in her rush to check her missing child.

The older doe's paws trembled terribly as she felt her daughter's face and chest. When her fingers brushed across the bandage over Judy's eye Bonnie burst into tears.

"Oh my baby, my poor baby." Bonnie wailed and clamped down on the younger doe with a strength of a vice.

"Guh… mom."

"I'm so sorry! I-If I just had gone w-with you."

"Mom-" Judy wheezed as the last of the air was squeezed from her lungs. She could swear that she could hear her bones creak as her mother tightened her grip on her kit and bawled harder.

"I-It's all my fault!"

In a last desperate bid for her life Judy wiggled her arm free and sucked in a delicious gulp of cold morning air.

"Mom!" Judy barked.

Bonnie flinched like she had been slapped and finally seemed to notice she had been slowly crushing the life from her daughter. She released the young doe with a sheepish sniffle.

"Mom, I'm fine." Judy added with a reassuring grin. "I just got knocked around a little."

"What are you talking about Judy!" Bonnie cried, throwing her paws up in the air. "You got thrown out of a truck you wrapped around a tree in the middle of a-a-a snowstorm! You wouldn't pick up your phone! The Sheriff's office wasn't a lick of help! How can you be fine!"

"I- well…" Judy glanced around the snow covered forest for some inspiration (or perhaps to see if a certain Devil was watching this little scene and laughing his tail off). She didn't want to lie to her mom, but even if she told the truth no one would believe her.

Thinking of Nick and the deals he makes gave her an idea, don't lie outright, just give a half-truth.

"Call it a Christmas Miracle." The bunny drawled with a sly smirk Nick would have been proud of.

When her mother frown and opened her mouth to pelt her with more questions Judy lunged and wrapped her mom in a much more comfortable hug than before, burying her muzzle into the crook of Bonnie's neck.

"I love you Mom." Judy mumbled. Bonnie sniffed and let it go, for now.

"I love you too Honeybun. I'm glad you're okay."

"Can we just go home now?" Judy pleaded.

"Sure Judy. I'll just have Jared get his useless clunker of a truck fixed then tow what's left of Ol' Blue back to the farm."

The male buck's ears snapped up defensively.

"I keep telling you mom! My tires really did catch on fire!"

"Sure JayJay, whatever you say." Bonnie snorted and herded her children into the minivan, Jared adamantly defending his truck's integrity and Judy struggling to hide the goofy grin on her face.

On the ride home Jared tried to pry what series of events transpired to result in her ending up curled in a snowdrift in her tank top, jeans, and a clean bandage on her head. Of course when she wanted to be Judy wasn't an easy nut to crack, so a few minutes from the driveway he finally gave in.

Bonnie pulled the minivan into the garage and they all climbed out of the van. Though she had told them she was fine Judy was still feeling off-kilter after her ordeal.

The skeptical side of her insisted that last night had been a fever dream and nothing more. but the larger side of her, her heart, told her otherwise. Her missing canvas jacket that she had left on Nick's living room floor and the bandage he had put on her head himself supported this.

It didn't stop that nasty little voice in the back of her mind from asking her why it mattered if it was a dream or not, she would probably never see Nick again.

Bonnie held the door open to let Judy and Jared inside then shouted in after them.

"We found her!" She announced.

The house began to shake and the floor trembled under the foot falls of a small army.

Judy's eyes went wide and her ears slumped to her back in terror as a wave of fluff barreled down the hallway.

"Uh oh."

Was the only thing she managed to get out before she saw swept away by the Hopps kerfuffle.

"Judy! You're alive!"  
Auntie Judy's back, she's back!"  
"Grandpa saided you got gobbled up by a fox! Didja Auntie?"  
"Look at the bobo on her head! she mustah fought like, a hundred foxes, right Auntie!"

"Grandpa says that Foxes are red 'cuz they're made from the Devil!" A particularly loud little buck proudly informed her, pulling a few giggles from the downed rabbit officer.

"Alright! Alright!" Bonnie began unearthing her daughter from the mountain of wiggling kits. "Everybunny off! She has had a long night, so give her some place! Go to the back porch to your Grandpa! I heard he has another story for y'all!"

Eventually the seas parted and the flood of hooting and hollering kits bounded off down the hall leaving behind a ruffled Judy on the kitchen floor flat on her back with her fur and clothes sticking up in odd angles.

"Whew, well that was terrifying." The doe commented dryly. "Remind me never to go missing again."

"Noted." Bonnie helped her off the floor and gently ran a paw over her daughter's bandage. Seeing everything was still together she ushered her out of the kitchen and into the living room where she was immediately bowled over by her father.

Much like his wife Stu Hopps had instantly started crying after wrapping his daughter in a tight hug, unlike Bonnie though Stu just bawled and blubbered wordlessly into his child's neck fur.

"Hey Dad, I'm back. I'm safe." Judy cooed and rocked with her father, just letting him get it out of his system.

"WHEEEEAAAA!"

"Oh Stu…" Bonnie sighed.

A few minutes of crying and a promise of an explanation later found Stu being led to his bed after a long and sleepless night and Judy plopping on a couch facing the Hopps Christmas tree in the center of the room.

Judging from the piles of shredded wrapping scattered on the floor the kits had already opened their presents, only a small collection of gifts remained next to her, her full name written on the tags in purple sharpie.

Judy's ears rotated as her mother walked back into the room looking exhausted.

"I finally put your father to bed." Bonnie fell onto the couch next to her daughter and ran a paw over her ears. "Most everyone else had already opened their gifts Honeybun, so you can go ahead while Grandpa distracts the kits for a spell, if not then head up to bed."

Judy thought for a moment then shrugged. She wasn't tired, quite the opposite in fact. Cuddling with a warm, soft fox did wonders.

"I think I'll open my gifts now."

Judy reached over and plucked the first gift and pulled it apart methodically, much like a piece of written evidence.

While she had begun unwrapping her gifts Jared and drifted into the room with his wife (A white furred doe named Nixie) next to him. The couple sat down next to their respective piles of gifts and began uncovering them as well.

For the next few minutes they spent showing off their gifts and commenting on what each other received.

Judy's favorite was a loose blue summer blouse from Bonnie.

Jared had received a tire iron from Stu, much to his horror and everyone else's amusement.

Soon every gift was unwrapped and a smile adorned everybunny's muzzle.

The back door creaked open and every rabbit ear jumped and swiveled towards the sound.

"They must not have closed the door all the way. I'll get it." Judy hopped up and closed the door.

As she was walking back she passed the coat rack and stuttered to stop and did a double take.

Peeking out from the layers of coats was her green canvas jacket.

Her heart skipped a beat as the bunny pulled her the jacket from its fellows to examine it. She felt a small box and the edge of folded cardstock sticking from a front pocket.

Hardly daring to hope or breath she pulled the letter from the fold and flicked it open.

 _It seems you forgot this._

 _-Father Christmas_

 _P.S._

 _Nicholas was adamant you receive his gift. The first present he had ever given._

The gold scripted letter flew in the air at Judy's haste to recover the little box. When she wrestled it free the jacket slumped to the ground as the practically vibrating doe held the tiny green wrapped present in her paw.

It was small, the box could fit in her paw comfortably but that did little to discourage her pounding heart.

She fumbled with the wrapping paper nearly a dozen times before she ripped the little box free.

It was a velvet covered case of some sort. Her anticipation mounting Judy flipped the case open.

An emerald and amethyst necklace winked up at her. pure silver in the shape of a flowing ribbon wrapping around the precious jewels glittered in the hallway light with a silver chain attached to the top loop.

A tiny card in a sharp and aggressive penmammalship sat on the inside of the jewelry box's top cover.

 _A deal struck and a promise made,  
Betwixt a Beauty singing in the dark,  
And a Devil lost in his suffering and evil way._

 _The beauty, a dazzling Violet,  
And the Devil, an unholy Green,  
Two souls dance in the dark among silver ribbons,  
Ribbons of a deal struck and a promise made._

 _I will see you soon Sweetheart. I promise._

 _-N._

Tiny beads of tears plipped over the emerald, silent tears of inexplainable joy as words seemed to have failed her altogether.

Judy clasped the little necklace and the note to her chest and closed her eyes, her hips swayed back and forth to a song only she could hear.

"Judy? Are you alright?" Bonnie's concerned voice drifted from the living room.

The bunny sighed and blinked the tears from her eyes. Without a hint of hesitation she slipped the necklace from the box and adorned it around her neck. The box, and Nick's note inside it, slid into her pocket.

She took a deep breath and gathered the fallen letter and her jacket and turned and walked back into the living room, her heart calm and at ease.

She knew she wouldn't see him again for a while, probably even a long while.

She knew the wait is going to hurt, she had begun to crave and long for his touch already, but this time her longing is tempered by patience, patience and understanding.

Judy would wait for him. They would see each other again. He had promised after all.

"Yeah Mom. I'm going to be just fine."

A/N: Done! Finally! Whew.

Alright, first off I know, Christmas is long over. I get it. Unfortunately I had to work over the holidays and New Years so I was delayed significantly.

Truthfully when I first started scribbling this short series I had intended it to be… well… _short._ Turns out the plot was more of a 4 or 5-shot rather than a crisp 3 shot fanfic but it was fun nonetheless.

If you hadn't already guessed from the title I take very loose inspiration from the song "Baby Its Cold Outside". When I write I always listen to music and I feed off of it. Music is beautiful and I want to put a little bit of the wonder and power I feel when a song strikes me in my soul and show it to you.

I hope I managed to translate just a fraction of that wonder and emotion.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it!

See you soon,

-Untraveled


	5. Eyes Like Mine- ZCOM Short

A/N: A little one-shot from the world of ZCOM, my first fanfic.

Enjoy.

-Untraveled

Eyes Like Mine

 _I love your eyes_.

As cliché and overused as that phrase is, no matter how many times I've heard you say them a light flutter would stir deep in my chest every time.

 _I love your eyes_.

Twins pools of ethereal green stared up at me from the dark. Those haunting orbs that bored into me like an accusation. The mask in my paws was designed to protect and hide me, now the blood and hate that stained its sleek polymer surface burned my skin and seared my cold, wretched, empty heart.

 _They are like jewels in the moonlight. Emeralds even_.

A small smile pulled my lips at the tiny, brief, precious memory. Your soft brown eyes in the shadow of our dingy little apartment, your gentle, irresistible touch. That night wasn't special, it hadn't been our anniversary or a date.

It was a Tuesday in spring and the power had gotten cut.

I remember that we had fallen behind on bills once again. You struggling with all your might to juggle two jobs while I bounced between my hustles and work with Big.

I had come home to you on the couch, your head in your paws and your slim shoulders shaking as you held back your sobs.

I don't remember how you had ended up entwined in my arms or even what nonsense I had spouted. What I said didn't matter, but it mattered to you. You love -loved- me.

What I do remember is your body flush against mine, our tails unconsciously wrapped around each other until the line between where I started and you blurred.

You tilted your head up, your soft brown eyes still red from crying looking up at me with a warmth and a love that was irreplaceable.

That's when you spoke, your tiny, sweet voice forever branded your words into my heart.

 _"I love your eyes."_ You said. Your cute eyes widen at the words that you blurted out without meaning to.

I laugh, and you giggle, the sound sending chills up my spine.

"Out of the two of us you were always the better charmer." I reply in hopes of coaxing another giggle.

Like an old, familiar dance we bantered back and forth. Ours hearts beating calm but powerful against each other's chest, another dance, a waltz in and of its self in our tiny moonlit apartment.

 _"Your eyes are like jewels in the moonlight."_ You whisper, resting a paw against my cheek and already I felt my knees turn to jelly. _"Emeralds even."_

"My, Mrs. Wilde!" I exclaim. "It almost sounds like you intend to rob me!"

 _"But I already have."_ You husk as you pull me in closer. _"I stole your heart."_

"Well than what ever will I do, now that I have the thief in my grasp?" I say, our lips a hairsbreadth apart and your hot breath rolling off my face. "Shall I take it back? Or perhaps I should steal yours in reply?"

A tiny moan and the squeak of a tiny body fidgeting on a mattress in the other room grabbed our attention and I felt my heart skip a beat. Through the gloom, poking from under a pink princess blanket a little red tail swayed.

 _"I'm afraid you can't do either."_ You giggle as our daughter mumbled something from her little dreamland. _"It would seem she took them both."_

"Then I don't want mine back." I purr. I tilt your head towards me and press my lips against yours.

We kiss and sway, another tiny dance to music only we can hear. Our life together had been filled with nothing but little dances.

When we emerge from our kiss, I pull you close and look down at our daughter, our little heart thief. You tuck your head under my muzzle as we watch our light in our dark world sleep and dream.

"She's growing so fast." I whisper. "She is so beautiful, just like her mother."

I feel you break out into a bright smile against my throat.

 _"She didn't get everything from me though."_ You say. _"She has your eyes."_

 _Your beautiful, wonderful..._

You turn your head and look up at me and the suddenly you... you vanish.

My arms are empty, and my armor is cold against my fur, and those damned ethereal pools of green stare up at me, accusing me.

My watch softly beeps, the alarm I set going off. I stand up from my perch and glance out of the grim coated window and out on the street.

Two lights, mounted on weapons most likely, swivel back and forth across the devastated street in Zootopia's rotting corpse.

A familiar grizzly and a bunny scamper through the debris, both weighed down with body armor. A grim frown on Grizzoli's snout, with a minigun hanging from his huge paws.

The little gray bunny -a doe- looked scared, her long ears pressed flat against her back and her nose trembling something horrible, her rifle twitching in her paws as the odd pair approached the designated rendezvous point.

 _Time to go._

I glance back into the dark apartment behind me, our couch wasted away to the springs and the kitchen where we held each other decayed and rotten from decades of neglect.

I stare at the place where we had once filled with so much love, where I could smile and our little heart thief could be free from the hate and the evil in the world.

I stare at what was once our home and yet...

I feel nothing.

I turn my mask away and press it in place around my face, so I don't have to look into those empty green eyes.

Eyes like mine.

A/N: If you haven't yet take a chance and read ZCOM: Rise of the Resistance! For those that already have, this scene takes place near the end of the first season right before Judy and Grizzoli meet their Reaper contact.


End file.
